Topic Archives: Commission Decisions

Recent decisions by the Commission highlight a split among the Commissioners over the proper standard for issuing cease and desist orders. The majority of Commissioners appear to agree that the determination regarding whether to issue a cease and desist order is based on whether the respondent has commercially significant domestic operations or inventory of infringing products, even though those standards are not set forth in Section 337 in the United States. ...›

On January 26, 2017, after taking the unusual step of ordering a full International Trade Commission oral hearing to consider issues including laches, remedy, and public interest, the Commission issued a limited exclusion order (LEO) in Lithium Metal Oxide Cathode Materials, Inv. No. 337-TA-951. The oral hearing was the first held before the Commission since the 2007 hearing in Baseband Processor Chips, Inv. No. 337-TA-543. ...›

In 3D Cinema Systems (Inv. 939), the Commission issued an opinion that explained why it did not give deference to a decision of invalidity by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in an inter partes review (IPR). ...›

Since February 2015, when the ITC announced its Pilot Program for expedited rulings on whether ITC exclusion and cease-and-desist orders cover redesigns or new products, the Commission has issued four decisions under the program (see our previous client alert regarding the Pilot Program). Two of the requests for advisory opinions were initially referred to the Office of Unfair Import Investigations (OUII) for consideration, while the other two proceedings were initially handled by the Office of the General Counsel. ...›

In the last year, this blog has covered a number of substantial developments at the International Trade Commission. Among other things, 2016 saw (1) an increased usage of the ITC’s 100-day program for early resolution of potentially case-dispositive issues; (2) a half-dozen decisions on Section 101 patentability defenses; (3) general exclusion orders being issued at a rate above the historical average; (4) a rare full Commission hearing on a Section 337 investigation; and (5) the first antitrust-based investigation in more than 25 years. ...›

The Commission will review Judge Dee Lord’s initial determination (“ID”) dismissing U.S. Steel’s antitrust claims on the pleadings. As we previously posted (here), Judge Lord ruled that U.S. Steel was required to plead federal antitrust standing to support its antitrust claim under Section 337, but had failed to do so. ...›

On October 20, 2016, the Commission denied yet another request for a stay of a remedial order in an investigation pending appeal to the Federal Circuit. The Commission’s denial in Certain Marine Sonar Imaging Devices, Inv. No. 337-TA-921, follows a long line of decisions denying stays of remedial orders pending Federal Circuit appeal (with a recent, notable exception in Digital Models), indicating that it continues to be very difficult to stay ITC remedial orders absent an “admittedly difficult legal question” concerning the order. ...›

The International Trade Commission (ITC) issued a general exclusion order in the 936 Investigation on July 6, 2016, that bars importation of shoes infringing two Converse trademarks on a diamond-patterned “outsole” (or shoe bottom). But the ITC found invalid a third Converse trademark on a “midsole” design, reversing the Administrative Law Judge on that point. ...›

The Commission has lifted the suspension of the Section 337 investigation initiated by U.S. Steel against major Chinese steel makers (Certain Carbon and Alloy Steel Products, Inv. No. 337-TA-1002) that had been ordered by Judge Dee Lord. In a Notice issued on August 5, 2016, the Commission reversed the Judge’s Initial Determination (ID) suspending the ...›